EU Ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs have convened in Toledo, Spain, to discuss extending aid to Ukraine and the potential imposition of sanctions against the authorities in Niger.
According to Euronews, Ukraine's Defense Minister, Alexei Reznikov, expressed optimism that they could employ Western F-16 fighter jets by spring 2024.
Another significant focus of the gathering is deliberating on possible sanctions against Niger due to the recent military overthrow of President Mohamed Bazoum, who had been democratically elected in 2021.
Josep Borrell, the EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, affirmed that steps were being taken toward implementing an independent sanctions framework to address the coup orchestrators.
The current shifts in power, observed in Niger and more recently in Gabon, have expanded the list of African nations under military control. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali, and Chad have undergone similar situations in recent years. Experts highlight that these political upheavals are propagating across Africa like a contagion, breaking the historical restraint against unconstitutional power seizures.
Timothy Murphy from the European Council on International Relations highlighted the region's tangible security threat to Europe, coupled with its geopolitical implications. The surge in Islamic terrorism, particularly in Mali, intensified after France and other EU nations withdrew from the region, allowing extremist groups to gain ground. Geopolitically, this scenario created openings for Russia to fill the void, potentially establishing a sphere of Russian influence in what's seen as Europe's vulnerable underbelly, the Sahel zone in Africa.
Niger, which ranked as the EU's second-largest uranium exporter after Kazakhstan in the previous year, faces potential disruption in its uranium shipments to the EU for nuclear fuel, though the likelihood of such disruption is considered low.
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